


In The Cold, Cold Night

by deanwimpchester



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-19
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-11-12 11:33:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deanwimpchester/pseuds/deanwimpchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the job, the team has to sleep at a Hotel. By some sad trick of fate, Arthur and Eames have to share beds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Are you kidding me?" Arthur snapped.

Eames shrugged, his gaze on a hotel bed. "Terribly sorry, love. Doesn't seem so."

Arthur turned around to look at the rest of the hotel room. Two full beds and a sofa, adjoined to another room with two other beds. The two beds in the other room were for Saito and Ariadne. Fair enough, Ariadne was a girl and Saito was paying for the hotel rooms. 

The way this room turned out was because there was not a pleasurable man-to-bed ratio and Arthur was horrible at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Yusuf had won the sofa by using Paper when everyone else had used Rock. Cobb had won the bed when he had used Scissors against Eames and Arthur's paper.That left the last bed for Arthur and Eames to share.

Arthur looked at Cobb. "Please."

"No."

"I can't do this," Arthur said stubbornly.

Cobb exhaled. "Come on, we have bigger problems than this. Get over it."

Arthur looked at the hotel bed. "I can't believe this."

"I'm very sorry this disappoints you," Eames retorted. "It's not like I'm exactly pleased with this situation either."

Arthur glared at him.

\----

Arthur was on his back, staring at the ceiling when Eames came out of the bathroom.

"Hello love," he said cheerily.

Arthur ignored him, turning on his side. A rather intriguing scent entered his nose.

Was that Eames?

"I see, that you sleep without gel in your hair. Might want to try that every now and then when you're awake." Yusuf laughed from the couch, which did not help Arthur's mood.

"So, I'm setting the alarm for six. That alright with everybody?" Cobb asked.

Arthur nodded.

"That's good for me," Yusuf chimed.

"Me as well," Eames added.

Eames snuck into the bed, allowing Arthur to get another sniff of that lovely fragrance. Eames turned his back to Arthur's, a good distance away from the other man and Arthur lost the smell.

Eames cleared his throat. "Goodnight."

The lights went out.

11:17 P.M. glowed in green from a clock.

Eames turned around in his sleep, ending up on his back.

Arthur was the only one awake.

And to top it off, Yusuf was snoring.

Lovely.

That smell was haunting Arthur.

Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, Arthur rolled over so that his head was resting on Eames's shoulder.

My, what was that smell?

Eames' head turned over, his chin resting on Arthur's forehead.

Alright, this was getting a little too snuggly for Arthur's taste.

He slipped away, looking at the clock.

11:31 P.M.

This was going to be a _long_ night.

Eames turned about in his sleep and ended with his chin against Arthur's neck. Arthur could feel the stubble. 

Hmm, that felt kinda nice.

Arthur turned his head so that his cheek was on Eames' forehead. He was greeted by that lovely smell again. Curious, he sniffed Eames' hair. So, it was the _shampoo_ …

In his sleep, Eames suppressed what seemed to be a cough or a sneeze. The noise he made was wheezy and reminded Arthur of a puppy or small animal. Arthur caught himself smiling.

He closed his eyes. This was Eames! A man. And, well, Arthur was a man, which, when he thought about it, made this night pretty awkward. Regardless, it still felt nice.

Soon, claustrophobia proved too much for Arthur to handle. He moved so that he could breathe freely.

1:34 A.M.

Eames was still on his side, facing the same way Arthur was facing. Arthur turned around and put his head under Eames' chin. He opened his eyes and saw Eames' shoulder.

Muscular.

_What was he thinking?_

Eames turned on his side, leaving only his back visible from where Arthur was laying. Arthur got closer to Eames, and then turned around so their backs were touching. Eames managed to turn around without squishing Arthur and his hand fell over Arthur's side. Now, that was _lovely_. And, as an added bonus, Arthur could now smell Eames' shampoo. He snuggled closer.

Which was weird, because Eames was _still_ a man.

3:49 A.M.

Arthur closed his eyes.

He could never be sure, but Arthur was almost positive that he could feel Eames smooch the top of his head.

\----

The alarm rang.

6:04 A.M.

To Arthur's surprise, the sound of a normal alarm clock did not assault his ears. The sound of an 80s pop station did.

  
 _When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be_  
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you  
When I go out yeah I know I'm gonna be  
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you 

_  
_

Arthur opened his eyes to realize that he and Eames were in the same position.

Snuggling.

Horrified, Arthur grabbed Eames's arm and pushed it away. He rolled around and looked at Eames's face.

The man was _wide awake_.

"Morning, Arthur darling."

"So, you were awake and- and didn't move?" Arthur asked.

Eames smiled. "And miss the chance to see the look on your face? Never."

"But what if Cobb or Yusuf saw?" he demanded.

The forger pointed at Cobb's empty bed.

Dare Arthur look at the couch?

Empty.

Damn.

  
 _When I come home yeah I know I'm gonna be  
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you_

_  
_

That song was really getting on Arthur's nerves. He stumbled out of bed and away from Eames to turn the alarm clock off.

  
 _But I would walk 500 miles-_

_  
_

Silence.

"Hey!" Eames grumbled. "I like that song"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Please tell me something-"

"Ah, here we go," interrupted Eames.

" _Anything_ ," Arthur continued. "That would possess you to do that."

"Sleeping?" he retorted.

Arthur sighed. "That's not what I mean."

"Well, you seemed to be alright with it last night," Eames defended quietly.

What the hell?

Arthur averted his eyes, surprised to feel butterflies in his stomach. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," Eames said cheerily, patting Arthur on the shoulder. "We'll always have Sydney, love."

Arthur blushed. "Eames-"

"And," the other man interrupted. "That song can be our song."

"What are you trying to say?"

His smile widened. He leaned forward and whispered into Arthur's ear, "If you're going to smell somebody, maybe do it a bit quieter."

And with that, the Forger left to get breakfast, leaving the Point standing with his mouth open.


	2. Chapter 2

_Everything about him is a little bit stranger,_

_A little bit harder,_

_A little bit deadly_

_-Rufus Wainright, ‘Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk’_

 

Arthur tried to look as relaxed as possible when he was making his way down to the breakfast area of the hotel.

He scanned the room and spotted Eames’ (muscular) shoulders and Arthur made a beeline to the man.

The Forger turned around at the sound of Arthur’s approach.

Honestly, the man made it hard for Arthur to be sensible.

Eames had half of a bagel in his hand and there was some cream cheese on the corners of his mouth.

Now, regardless of one’s sexual orientation (And Arthur was _hetero_ sexual, dammit!) that was just plain cute. And seeing that completely threw off Arthur’s train of thought.

“Ah, startled me” Eames said, unaware of the cream cheese situation on his mouth.

“Um, Eames-“ Arthur started.

“I love how you took the time and effort to get dressed before coming to breakfast” Eames chuckled, gesturing with his bagel.

Familiar annoyance replaced anxiety. “I’m glad that you’re happy.” He responded dryly. “You know you have cream cheese on your face?”

“Oh?” Eames muttered, wiping his face. “That better?” he asked.

“You’ve still got some,” Arthur said pointing to the side of his face.

When Eames was clear of cream cheese, he looked at Arthur.

Wow, he had pretty eyes.

No, no he didn’t.

“Want to get some food?” Eames asked Arthur.

Once Arthur had gotten himself a balanced breakfast, the two sat down across from each other.

Eames leaned forward with a sly smile on his face.

Arthur raised his eyebrow. “What?”

“You’re just too endearing with that look on your face.”

“What look?”

“That look.” Eames said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Cobb and Ariadne deep in conversation.

“Eames?”

“Hmm?”

Arthur looked back at Ariadne and Cobb. “What are we going to tell the others?”

“About what?” Eames asked.

“About what happened last night.” Arthur murmured.

Eames smiled at Arthur.

“What happened last night, Arthur?” He asked softly.

What _did_ happen last night?

“Oh, you know….” Arthur started, distracted by Eames’s raised eyebrow. “Um…. The, ah…”

“The snuggling?” Eames asked with a devious smile on his face.

Oh yeah.

“Yep.” Arthur said. “Ah, what are we going to tell Cobb and Yusuf?”

“I dunno.” Eames said, shrugging.

“Well, we oughtta come up with something.” Arthur said, surprised how cross he sounded.

“Since you seem to care so much, you can think it up. I’ll be shaving.” Eames said cheerily, tapping Arthur on the shoulder.

When Eames was gone, Arthur was not surprised to find Cobb sitting where Eames just was. “Hello” He said noncommittally.

“Hey.” Cobb said quickly. He adjusted himself in his chair and leaned forward. “What the hell was that with Eames this morning?”

Arthur leaned back. “I don’t know. I was asleep. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“That look on your face tells me you do know what I’m talking about.” Cobb said quietly. “I just want to know what’s going on.“

 “Cobb, nothing’s ‘going on’.” Arthur snorted. “I promise.”

 

 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

 

Being in the Hotel room was very awkward.

It didn’t help that Yusuf honestly could not look Arthur in the eye at this point, which was a combination of annoying and humiliating. Whenever he had to say something to the Point Man, he had his eyes fixated on the ground.

Arthur, being a man of class and composure, kept it all together, even though he could tell that the man had a lot of questions.

Yusuf cleared his throat. “So you and Eames….”

“Piss off.” Arthur snapped.

Just then, Eames came out of the bathroom, sporting a newly shaved face.

Mmmmm.

He smiled at Arthur, crinkling his nose. “Hello, Sweetie.” He said happily, turning to pack up his things.

Dear God. He sounded like a campy, male River Song.

That damn chemist gave Arthur one of those ‘looks’.  He looked like a younger, middle-eastern Keith Richards. Arthur responded with a very rude hand gesture.

“Well, I’ve got to get going.” Arthur announced.

“See you on the plane,” Eames said, giving Arthur a very surprising high-five to the ass.

Both Arthur and Yusuf were temporarily frozen with shock. And then Arthur’s face turned an impressive shade of red. The Point Man walked out of the Hotel Room as quickly as he could whilst retaining what was left of his dignity.

When he was leaving, he was almost positive that he heard Yusuf say, “So you and Arthur?”

When he closed the door, Arthur was almost positive he heard Eames say, “Not bloody yet”

 


End file.
